Apple limits buyers to two iPhones

Only one per buyer at AT&T stores

When Apple's iPhone goes on sale tomorrow evening, buyers will only be allowed to take home two of the "revolutionary" mobile telephones, the Mac maker said today. That's twice as many as AT&T, the only carrier offering the iPhone for the immediate future, will allow.

The iPhone doesn't go on sale until 6pm US local time, so expect the first purchasers to get their mitts on the mobile in Apple and AT&T's east coast store - a queue has already begun to form outside the New York Apple Store, with the first guy getting into line this past Monday.

Apple said it was keeping its 194 shops open until midnight to meet demand. AT&T outlets take the total number of sites that will be selling the iPhone tomorrow to around 2000.

Apple's iPhone: don't take more than two...

Of course, what we don't know is how many iPhones will be available to buy tomorrow. It has been claimed by a variety of sites that the devices have already been brought into the shops

The iPhone costs $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB version. Buyers need a two-year contract, with three basic plans on offer: $60 a month for 450 minutes' talk time, $80 a month for 900 minutes and $100 for 1350 minutes. All three include unlimited data usage and 200 text messages a month.

In addition, there's a one-off "activation fee" of $36, which can be paid using iTunes - a move presumably intended to get successful iPhone purchasers out of the shops and back home as soon as possible.